preparing the way for Jesus Christ in the lives of men and women

In my work with college-aged students, I frequently get asked the question, “How can I trust people more?” And, while I’m no expert, I have learned some thoughts and suggestions over the years myself that I typically offer to them as a means of encouragement. Not long ago, however, a student asked me a much harder question – one that I had difficulty answering initially. This student asked me, “Why trust people?”

The student was not interested in learning about how to trust people until having a decent reason why we should trust people in the first place. The longer I spoke with the student, I realized the importance of the question (and the inadequacy of my answers). After the conversation, I was left with some questions of my own. I felt convinced that we ought to trust other people, but I had a hard time articulating why.

So, after a few days of processing and doing some quick research, these are three basic principles that I realized. Hopefully they can be helpful as we each seek to answer this question for ourselves.

I wish there was a better way to preserve the way we feel on certain days. There are some feelings, certain experiences, special moments in life that I wish we could just bottle up and keep stored away – able to feel them afresh anytime we like. I vaguely remember what was going on in my heart and in my head 10 years ago as I awoke on the day of my wedding. I remember being eager, nervous, exhausted, impatient, grateful, hopeful, and full of disbelief that this remarkable woman wanted to be married to me. I remember feeling so many different emotions that day. In my memory it feels like a blur now, like the hazy remembrance of a dream from the night before that is fading away. Only, every morning since, I’ve awoken to that dream come true.

Disciple-making is not something to be undertaken only in a classroom. It is also not something to be done only while sitting and drinking a cup of coffee or having a meal. Disciples aren’t just made in one-hour weekly meetings to discuss doctrines, Bible passages, or life issues. It may certainly can contain each of those things, but if that is all our disciple-making is, then we are leaving out one of the most important components of Jesus’ methodology: the with-me principle.

This is a picture of the Elah Valley where David stood and fought Goliath. When David first happened upon the situation, he was appalled that someone would dare blaspheme the name of the LORD – no matter how big and strong he was. Though all of Israel was afraid of Goliath (including the King), David was undaunted. Though his oldest brothers mocked and disrespected him for showing up, David did not stop asking why no one was standing up to Goliath. Even when King Saul was made aware of David’s strong words, he told David that he was incapable of fighting the giant.

There are two types of people in the world: those who are extroverts and those who are introverts. I am an introvert (an ISTJ for those who know Myers-Briggs), which is neither here nor there, but lately it’s become en vogue to flaunt one’s introverted-ness as a leadership strength (see here, here, here, and here).